His Dark Secret
by ClaireBear1982
Summary: Lucius Malfoy is dying. He has a dark secret he needs to tell his son. How will Draco react? Muggle!AU.


A/N: QLFC. Finals Round 1. Captain of the Wimbourne Wasps. Chosen character: Lucius Malfoy. Paired with: Draco Malfoy. Setting: Muggle!AU.

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The call he'd been expecting had finally come. His father was in hospital, and he wasn't expected to last more than a few days. He'd been ill for quite a long time really, so it came as no big surprise when his mother rang him.

He made enquiries as to when he could come and visit the old man.

"Can I help, sir?" asked a fetching looking nurse of the young man with platinum blond hair, grey eyes, and a pale pointed face that stood at the enquiries desk.

"Yes, I'm here to see my father, Lucius Malfoy," replied Draco Malfoy - soon to be heir of the Malfoy fortune.

"Ah, yes. If you'll just follow me, sir."

The woman moved from behind the enquiries desk and headed for the corridor to the right, which would take them to the elevators. Draco followed ponderously behind the nurse.

The hospital was a private establishment, funded from donations by its shareholders, and really was top of the line in every single way. It had all the top spec equipment money could buy, which also meant that the hospital could afford the luxury of having nurses play escorts to their visitors.

The elevator dinged its arrival at the appropriate floor, pulling Draco out of his thoughts. He stepped out and was immediately greeted by the smell of sterile air. Finally, he was outside of the private room his father was residing in.

"There we go, sir," chirped the nurse sympathetically.

"Yes, thank you," replied Draco not a little nervously.

He placed his hand on the doorknob, then took a deep breath and let it go before he entered. As soon as he entered, he was conscious of the fact that his father was hooked up to all kinds of machines. It broke his heart to see his father in this way. To Draco, his father had always been so alive, so vital, and now he was reduced to a mere shadow of his former self. He crossed the space between the door and the bed, placed a loving hand on the old man's shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Hello, father?" said Draco tentatively and quietly so as not to disturb the quiet serenity of the room.

"Draco, you came," said Lucius softly. His voice was a mere whisper now, not like in his younger days when his voice had seemed to boom across the space.

"Of course I came, father. Whatever would make you think I wouldn't?" asked Draco as he forced a smile onto his face.

"You're so busy now with your own life- I thought..."

Draco quietly hushed his father and sat down in the visitors' chair. He watched the machines momentarily as they measured his father's vital signs.

It made Draco ponder for a moment the difference between life and death, and which would be preferable. He decided life had to be more so.

"How's the business?" asked Lucius. Draco now had charge of the multi-million pound stockbroker business in the heart of London. The business itself had been passed down through the generations from father to son. The last fifty years since the business went public had proved most profitable.

"Same as always, father: busy but steady," said Draco in standard response to the very same question Lucius always asked of his son. "It's in good hands."

"How are Astoria and Scorpius?"

"They're very well, thank you. Astoria is busy with all her charity work and other social obligations. As for Scorpius, well, that young man is going places. He's in the top five percent of his year, with a future in linguistics. Or so he told his mother in his last letter."

Lucius smiled in satisfaction. With Scorpius' talents, he'd be able to negotiate deals with the overseas clients quite easily. Father and son chatted on for a while longer until a nurse popped by to check on the patient and his stats. At which point, Draco made himself scarce for a while. He headed to the coffee shop to grab a drink and a bite to eat.

When he returned to the private room, he found his father was sleeping. So Draco pulled out the broadsheet he'd bought with him and occupied himself with the share prices in the Middle East. Eventually, his father came to again.

"I'm so glad you came again, Draco," said Lucius with a small smile. He'd been warned by his mother that his father seemed to be wandering in his mind a little, and had no concept of time. This being the case, Draco did the only thing he could do - he played along.

"Hello, father. Of course I came to see you again," said Draco as he tried to dredge up a smile. He was hating this with a fiery vengeance, and it felt like someone was trying to rip his heart out of his chest.

"Draco, I need you to know something, but I don't want you to think badly of me," said Lucius anxiously. His grey eyes flickered to look around the room, instead of at his son.

"Father, whatever it is, I'm sure it could never make me think badly of you." Draco tried to reassure him. "So please don't fear."

"Draco, you… you have a half sister," said Lucius, his voice barely audible. Draco stared in astonishment at this proclamation.

"I have a half sister? Who? Where? What?" asked Draco, making sure he'd heard his father right, and that his imagination hadn't just twisted his words.

"Indeed you do. Her name is Lyra Michaels..." Lucius' words were cut off by a spasm of coughing. The machine started going crazy, making all kinds of beeping noises. Nurses rushed in to help the man.

Draco slipped out of the room. Right now he needed some air to clear his head. He had a half sister? Did his mother know about that? If not, was it the dying man's wish to know that the girl would be taken care of? If his mother didn't know, how would she take the news of her husband's infidelity? Questions tumbled around inside his brain until his head hurt.

Draco found himself outside of the hospital on the extensive grounds. There was a bench not too far away. He headed towards it and plonked himself down. He felt so confused. One of the nurses had spotted Draco quietly leaving the ward and followed him.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked the nurse, assuming his absence was due to his father's coughing fit, and not the exposition that had just been dumped on him. "It can be so hard to see a loved one so ill."

"What? I mean pardon?" asked Draco. Right now he didn't know if he was coming, going, been, or gone.

"I asked if you were okay, and said how hard it can be to see a loved one so ill," said the nurse sympathetically. Her eyes made quick observations between sooty lashes as she studied the young man in front of her.

"Yes, yes indeed," said Draco distantly. His mind was reeling a mile a minute.

Realising that she wasn't going to get much of a response, the nurse turned and left to go back inside.

After what seemed like a day of being sat on that bench, Draco shook himself out of his thoughts. The only thought that was running through his head now was to go back and see if his father could give him any more information.

When he returned to the private room, he found his father was awake and resting comfortably.

"Hello, Draco, nice of you to come and see me so often." Lucius smiled happily, but the smile slipped from the old man's face when he saw his son's expression. "What's wrong?"

"Father, last time I was here, you told me something secret. I need more information about it, if you can do that without getting too upset," said Draco kindly but urgently. He needed to know if this was real or just something he'd made up in his wandering mind.

"What did I tell you, Draco?" asked Lucius, frowning with uncertainty. "I don't remember telling you anything, and certainly nothing like a secret."

Draco took a deep, steadying breath, and let it out again. "Last time I was here, you told me I had a half sister. Her name is Lyra Michaels. Do you remember?" asked Draco quickly. He left the question hanging in the air.

His father's grey face seemed to sink, and his bottom lip trembled. It seemed Lucius had remembered after all. "Yes, I remember. I suppose I had better tell you about her."

Lucius took a deep breath and launched into his sorry tale.

"I'd been married to your mother, oh, going on eight years. I developed what they call a seven year itch- things with your mother and me weren't going so well. She was suffering a very bad bout of depression, for she had just lost a child- your sister in fact..." Lucius stopped to draw breath for a moment.

"Take all the time you need, father. I'm not going anywhere," said Draco so gently that he surprised himself with his own compassion.

Lucius carried on from where he had left off. "Anyway, your mother seemed to withdraw from me, from you, from the world in general. I just couldn't get through to her. There was a woman at the office who proved to be a source of comfort. Her name was Ara Michaels. She loved me and supported me at a time when I needed someone the most. I was just as devastated when we lost your sister. As with all these things, it went too far, and Ara found out she was pregnant. –She presented me with a daughter - Lyra."

Lucius licked his dry lips. Draco, realising his father was thirsty, picked the plastic cup of water up and helped his father drink. "Not too much, now, father. I don't want you to start choking again."

Lucius gave a contented sigh. "Thank you. Now, where was I?"

"Ara just found out she was pregnant, and she presented you with a daughter," recited Draco quickly. Right now he was absolutely astonished, and he desperately wanted to hear more. "Father, how old was I?"

"Ah, now, let me see. You would have been about four at the time," said Lucius quietly. His eyelids drooped momentarily before popping open again.

"Father, does mother know about Lyra?" asked Draco unwillingly. But at the same time he needed to know if he could speak to his mother about this.

"Yes, she knows. Draco, I'm so sorry. Heaven knows what you must think of me," said Lucius sadly. His eyes closed, and his breathing became laboured. The machines began chirping and pinging again. Nurses rushed in. Draco stood back helplessly as he watched the once proud man slip away.

Within moments, Lucius Malfoy had gone. He'd passed his burden on, and now he was free. As Lucius was pronounced dead, Draco slipped from the room and made for the restrooms, where he promptly threw up. He was shocked to the core. His parents always presented such a united front. Who'd have thought they held such a deep, dark secret? Draco stood in front of the mirror, turned on the cold tap, and took a handful of water to rinse his mouth. He then splashed his face with cold water.

It was time to face the world and let it be known that his father was gone from it. He would deal with his father's secret after the funeral was done. He was curious to meet Miss Lyra Michaels- the dark secret of the Malfoy family.


End file.
